PVT. GEORGE SHANNON IS LOST - AGAIN Captain Lewis (also known as Captain Scott Mandrill) and Sgt. Major Pope of the Army National Guard were flying a reconnaissance pattern over the Lynch - Bristow area in a Blackhawk helicopter on Tuesday afternoon, August 31, 2004. They were searching for Pvt. George Shannon from Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, who is trying his best to follow in the footsteps of his famous ancestor and get lost in northeast Nebraska for 16 days. Like the original Pvt. Shannon, Josh Loftis of Belleville, ILL., is eighteen years old and the youngest of the reenactors with the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles. He is a direct descendant of Pvt. George Shannon, who was Josh’s great-great-great-great-great-uncle. Josh’s grandfather, Robert Anderson’s, mother great-great-grandmother was Shannon’s youngest sister. Pvt. Shannon was the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who was lost in Northeast Nebraska for 16 days and nearly starved to death before being reunited with the expedition. The expedition is made up of approximately 40 living historians who are currently retracing the journey of their predecessors along the Missouri River in an exact replica of the Lewis and Clark keelboat along with two pirogues and a crew. The core crew consists of seven people who are committed to make the two year trip. Others come and go as the crew rotates. Several members of the crew are descendants of the original crew. Depending on the location of the boats, there’s usually 17 to 20 people on board and some days the count can be as high as 60. They are trying to stick as close as possible to the time line of the original journey. Plans are to arrive at Mandan, North Dakota on November 4, 2004. The Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1804 at Ft. Mandan. The journey began in July of 2003 when Captain Lewis/Mandrill rode from Washington D. C. to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (a trip of 300 miles in eleven days) and ends on September 23, 2006, at St. Louis, MO. Josh graduated from high school early and put off starting college classes so he could be a part of the Discovery Expedition. He says, “I’m having a blast. I was 12 years old when grandpa took me on my first rendezvous in 1999. I kind of fell in love with it - it got me hooked. Its one reason that I wanted to graduate early so I could come on this trip. No one gets paid. This is a non-profit trip.” says Josh. “For me, it is just the joy of being part of the adventure.” Josh’s adventure as the lost Shannon started on August 26, 2004. He spent the day walking, figuring that is what his predecessor did 200 years ago while looking for the horses. The next day his ride started at Crofton, NE., on a 20 year old mare named Brenda. Brenda’s owner, Heather Ryman, Springfield, ILL., brought Brenda to Crofton for Josh. His ride will end on September 11 when he meets the boats at Snake Creek, fourteen miles west of Platte, SD. - a ride that will covered 155 miles. ” It‘s definitely the longest ride I have ever done. I even get off and walk often to give Brenda some rest and exercise my legs.” “I’m glad I’m not the real Shannon,” he says, as the waitress brings him a piece of cake. Following in the spirit of the first expedition, he wears the same clothes every day, doesn’t take showers or shave, just like the real Shannon. Still Josh will never really be completely lost as this modern day Shannon carries a cell phone and a laptop computer with him. Josh and Brenda travel about 15 miles per day. On the day he stopped at Lynch for dinner, his journey for the day had started a mile east of the tiny town of Monowi and would end at Bristow, where he plans to camp in the city park overnight. If possible, Josh likes to have a corral to keep Brenda in overnight. If there is no pen available, Brenda has to be tied for night and does not have the freedom she would have in a pen. Visiting with Josh as he is eating dinner at the BTR Quick Stop in Lynch, he says the crew is on a schedule. “I have an hour for lunch. I have to leave here at 1 PM. On the original journey they went as they could but we have to keep to a schedule. I carry jerky with me. I had no breakfast today. I try to eat one meal a day. Heather brings feed for Brenda every night and for me if I don’t find a place to eat during the day.” From Bristow he plans to continue west on the Highway 12 (also known as the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway and/or the Lewis and Clark Trail), and then will head north on Highway 281. Wednesday night he planned to sleep near the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery north of Spencer and cross the Nebraska - South Dakota border the next day. His ride in South Dakota continues to the Platte - Winner bridge where he will cross the Missouri River. After Brenda crosses the bridge in a trailer, Josh will ride the final leg of his journey to Snake Creek and meet the boats. Josh’s grandfather is Robert Shannon Anderson, from Marysville, Ohio, the great-great-great nephew of Pvt. George Shannon. Anderson is not traveling on the boats at the present time but is speaking to different groups in the area about his family ancestor, Pvt. George Shannon. “I don’t go out and speak to groups like grandpa does,” says Loftis, “but if they come to my camp and ask questions, I will answer them and visit about Shannon and my trip.” Josh is keeping a journal of his trip. Readers can follow Josh’s adventures and also the progress of the Expedition by clicking onto lewisandclark.net Extra information on Pvt. George Shannon 200 years ago Pvt. Shannon, the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and interpreter George Drouillard were sent out to round up the expedition’s horses. They were told to stay on high ground and follow the boats upriver. The next day, Drouillard returned saying he couldn’t find the horses or Pvt. Shannon. They searched for Shannon for several days before continuing their journey. Shannon wandered around in what is now northeast Nebraska lost for 16 days. Thinking he was behind the boats, Shannon continued upriver trying to catch up to them. Giving up he sat down along the shore and waited for a passing boat to pick him up. On September 11 he was spotted by the crew of the keelboat, barely alive. He had lived on wild berries and a rabbit that he shot with a stick from his gun after he ran out of ammunition.

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